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Macau Billionaire Convicted of Bribing U.N. Officials

August 18, 2017, Covington Alert

On July 27, 2017, a Manhattan federal jury convicted Macau billionaire Ng Lap Seng of bribing Caribbean diplomats to the United Nations (“UN”) to secure the organization’s support for a multi-billion dollar convention center that Ng hoped to build in Macau. After a five-week trial, the jury took just seven hours to return a guilty verdict on all six charges: one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), two counts of violating the FCPA, one count of federal program bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of money laundering. With this verdict, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) marked its first victory in six years in a contested FCPA proceeding when put to its burden of proof.

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On November 7, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) unsealed criminal charges against five individuals in connection with an alleged bribery scheme to assist Rolls-Royce plc (“Rolls-Royce” or the “Company”) in obtaining a US $145 million government contract to supply equipment and services for a gas pipeline from Kazakhstan to China.

On December 29, 2016, General Cable Corporation (“GCC”), a global manufacturer of wire and cable products, agreed to pay approximately $75.8 million in connection with a non-prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and a cease and desist order with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to settle allegations that it violated the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). The settlement, which includes an admission of factual allegations but no criminal charges, requires GCC to pay a criminal penalty of $20.5 million to the DOJ and $55.3 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest to the SEC.

On September 29, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued letters of declination to NCH Corporation (“NCH”) and HMT LLC (“HMT”). Both companies are Texas-based “domestic concerns.” The letter to NCH, an industrial supply and maintenance company, relates to an investigation into possible violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) based on alleged bribes paid by its Chinese subsidiary to Chinese state-owned customers. The letter to HMT, a company that manufactures, supplies, and services aboveground liquid storage tanks for oil and gas companies, relates to an investigation into possible violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA based on alleged bribes paid by an HMT sales agent in Venezuela to Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (“PDVSA”) and bribes paid by an HMT distributor in China to state-owned customers.

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